The Odyssey: The Story of Odysseus

Summary

The original adventure story, The Odyssey continues to captivate and inspire nearly three millennia after it was written.

A towering epic of adventure, cunning, and the longing for home, The Odyssey follows the perilous journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy. Cursed to wander for ten years across a treacherous sea, the clever king of Ithaca confronts monsters and gods alike—outwitting the Cyclops, resisting the Sirens’ fatal song, and braving the wrath of Poseidon—while his faithful wife Penelope fends off suitors determined to claim his throne.

Rich with suspense, humor, and lyric beauty, Homer’s immortal poem explores what it means to be human: the bonds of family, the cost of pride, the power of endurance, and the pull of memory and home. At once a rousing adventure and a profound meditation on fate and identity, The Odyssey continues to speak, urgently and timelessly, to every generation.